India's government said Monday it would hold more talks in April with its communist allies in a bid to move forward with a contentious nuclear pact with the United States.
Next month's talks will focus on a draft deal worked out between New Delhi and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that is essential to concluding the deal with Washington.
Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters that government representatives had presented the outcome of the talks with the UN's atomic watchdog to its communist allies on Monday.
Both sides "felt further discussion was needed. It was decided to hold the next meeting in April," Mukherjee was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India after the 90-minute meeting.
The India-US pact, which seeks to bring India into the loop of global nuclear civilian commerce, has been a key point of discord between the ruling Congress-led coalition and the communists, who prop up the minority government in parliament.
India says the pact is needed to provide new fuel sources to keep the energy-hungry nation's economy growing strongly, but the communists oppose it, saying the deal will compromise New Delhi's military programme and ally it more closely with Washington.
New Delhi also needs approval from the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group, which regulates global civilian nuclear trade, before it can begin buying nuclear reactors and fuel.
Key US officials have stepped up pressure on New Delhi to move forward so the pact can get final approval from the US Congress, where it has bipartisan support, before Washington gets busy with the November presidential polls.
In a speech to parliament last week, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said he would try to build a consensus on the deal but so far has had no success with communist leaders.
